The Ice Dragon Slayer: Hero
by laufeysonn
Summary: Hero Darkhour is a female wizard with more than enough on her plate. Not only does she struggle with the absence of any memory of her parents, but she is also left to wonder how she learned the Lost Magic of Dragon Slaying. Because of an encounter five years ago Hero hopes to find answers by joining the prestigious Fairy Tail guild. However, she may find more problems than answers.
1. Chapter 1

_All characters and concepts in this story other than Hero Darkhour and the use of Ice Dragon Slayer Magic were created by Hiro Mashima._

_**THIS IS AN OC x CANON STORY.** __If you have a problem with that, do not read any further._

_This story begins where Season 1 of the anime left off, the day after Laxus is expelled and they have the Fantasia parade. With the new guild hall and all._

"We are now approaching Magnolia. The train will come to a stop in just a few moments. Please remain seated at this time." The attendant called out through the cabin she was seated in. The young seventeen year old had nearly dozed off during her long journey to the famous city. It had been her first time on her own and the night before her departure from the snow covered wasteland was filled with sleepless hours of anticipation.

This girl's name was Hero Darkhour, and she was a dedicated wizard. She came to Magnolia with one purpose; to become a part of the Fairy Tail guild. After three years of solitude and training in mountains, and two years of readjustment to society, Hero was finally ready to take her spot in the as a wizard in Fairy Tail. She could still remember the day she was offered to join as if it were yesterday. She began to look back on the memory in hopes that thinking about it would get her mind off of the bubbling feeling in her stomach.

An old, small man had approached Hero when she was twelve years old. Abandoned and scared in the middle of a blizzard and stuck in a cave, the young wizard-to-be cowered at the sight of another person. "What do you want?" She managed to stutter out, long dark locks covering most of her face. The old man carefully reached his hand forward, however he did not move from his spot at the other side of the small fire. He treated her as if she were as fragile as glass, gently tucking a few strands of hair away from her face. His arm reached at a disproportionate length, which had fascinated Hero more than scare her. "How would you like to join a guild, sweetheart?"

It was not until five years after that event when Hero decided it was time to join. The old man told her that his name was Makarov and that he was the master of a guild called Fairy Tail. During his first encounter with her, he told her many stories about the many people of the guild and the children that were around her age at the time who would grow up to be real handfuls. All of his stories inspired Hero to use the magic that was given to her more often. She trained day and night until she was sure that she would be able to hold her own against any opponent.

"Sir, I believe this is your stop." The attendant waved his hand in front of Hero's face while she reminisced on that day. Being addressed as a man came as no surprise to her, it happened regularly and in all honesty never truly bothered her. Her hair was cut very short, to the length of the top of her ears and shaggy all around. She was also very flat-chested, and her wardrobe leaned more towards the masculine than the feminine clothing.

Hero thanked the attendant and grabbed her bag before she stepped off of the train and looked out to the city. The last time she was in a city this big, her parents were still alive and she had a place to call home. All of it was a bit overwhelming at first. It took her a few moments to settle back into reality and pull out the map that Makarov had sent her after she had written him a letter. She navigated her way through the town, attracting a little bit of unwanted attention because of her looks.

Due to the fact that Hero was a cute girl who was often mistaken as a boy, both men and women alike would admire her appearance while questioning her gender from afar. The wizard had grown so accustom to it that she barely noticed the stares anymore.

"If I go down this street and then take a right, I should…" Hero mumbled to herself. She peeled her eyes away from the map for just a moment to look up and see the guild hall towering over the rest of the buildings. A bright smile appeared on her face and she immediately began to sprint ahead.

Instead of finding the main entrance, Hero stumbled upon a back doorway that lead into one of the storage rooms of the guild. Obviously confused because she believed she went through the front entrance, the young female trudged onward through the room until she found another door. On the other side of the door she could hear a lot of commotion, and suddenly she became hesitant to see what was beyond that point. With a deep breath and a reminder that she came all this way to join this guild, she gained the courage to get the door open and reveal the chaos in the main hall.

"You wanna' go, you half naked Popsicle?!" A boy with pink hair and his back turned to her shouted.

"I've been ready to go since you walked in the door, ya' good for nothing Flame Brain!" Another voice shouted from behind the pink haired man that Hero could not see.

There were a few sounds of wood sliding against wood, and then the pink haired boy jumped out of the way. Before Hero could even blink there was a chair being thrown in her direction. She had no time to move out of the way, so her only reaction was to put up her arms in defense. A startled expression came onto her face when she heard the smashing of wood, which prompted her to remove her arms from her face and see that Makarov's giant hand was guarding her. He had crushed the chair in his hand, letting the rubble fall to the ground. Hero let out a sigh of relief.

Makarov retracted his hand and set down his tankard with an angry glare shot at the boys. Before the master could even say anything, there was a red-haired woman who began scolding the two before she lead them both outside, along with a blonde girl and a flying blue cat. Hero had to remind herself not to get on anyone's bad side here; everyone looked so intimidating.

"Hero, come over here and begin your introductions with the face of Fairy Tail!" Master Makarov shouted. Dark blue optics scanned over the room at all the people before finally resting on the counter and spotting a beautiful woman with white hair. Hero made her way to the counter and she held out a gloved hand, a warm smile on her face. "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss. My name is Hero." In retrospect, the dark haired female could at least try and make her tone sound a little more feminine, but her natural voice was by default a little masculine.

The smile on the other girl's face lit up even more so than it was before. "Well aren't you a cutie? My name is Mirajane, but everyone here just calls me Mira." She giggled. Her laughter was contagious because Hero found herself chuckling quietly as well. Master reached his hand up and ruffled Hero's short hair. "You cut all your hair off. Shame, those were some beautiful locks." He huffed as he stood up on the counter top and then made his way to the stage where he could make the announcement of a new recruit. "She's the new member of the family, and I'm sure you will all make her feel welcomed."

Most of the people in the guild were very kind to her outside of the few who seemed to keep to themselves. Hero made herself comfortable when she removed her jacket and gloves and then asked for a glass of ice once she was done introducing herself to everyone. She chewed on all of the ice within a matter of seconds and requested another glass before she asked what was on her mind. "Hey, Mira. Who were those guys earlier? The two who were fighting."

It took a moment for Mirajane to realize who Hero was talking about, and when she finally did her smile widened. "That was Gray and Natsu. They are kind of like brothers the way they bicker all of the time. Natsu was the pink haired one. He's a dragon slayer, like you, right?" Hero nodded at this question. Mira continued speaking, "And Gray was the one in just his boxers. He uses ice make magic, which now that I think about would be pretty useful for you. You two would probably make a great team."

A chuckle escaped Hero at the thought of forming a team this early in joining the guild, especially with a man who had some sort of strange habit of taking his clothes off. That scenario did not seem impossible however, seeing as someone who could just create ice out of thin air would be a great person to have along with her at all times. She shook her head, hair bouncing around and hitting her face with each sway. A teammate was supposed to be there as both a fighting companion and a friend, not some ice machine.

Hero felt someone pull down the back of her white button up shirt, and then something that felt like a stamp pressed against the middle of her upper back. "Welcome to the guild, kiddo." Master Makarov said from behind her, and when she turned around she saw the guild seal on a magical stamp being held by the small, old man. A big smile curled Hero's lips and she could barely contain her excitement.

Finally, after all of those years of training and hardships, Hero had found a place to call home. She knew this was only the beginning of an unfolding journey that lied ahead, and she had no idea what kind of treacherous adventures she would go on throughout this journey. All she knew was that she was home, and for now that is all that matters to her.


	2. Chapter 2

Three weeks passed since Hero joined the guild, and every day had something new to reveal. The first week she spent most of her time on quests. She only took the ones that had a small reward because those quests took a short amount of time with little work and no one else in the guild ever showed interest in them. Her favorite of the three that she took was finding a lost kitten and reuniting it with its child owner. Such heartwarming words of appreciation and one of the brightest smiles she had ever seen were enough reward from that quest, but the child's parents insisted that they do something for her. All she asked for was a home cooked meal that she could take back to her apartment.

Hero was no cook; she was more likely to burn down a building than prepare a good meal. It was much easier for her to cook on an open fire than in a condensed room of many utilities. The wizard could not remember the last time she had a meal cooked for her, so she was excited to receive the small box of food and return to her apartment to eat it that same day.

The second week was when Hero decided she would get to know the people of the guild a little better. She had hoped that the infamous Team Erza would be back from their quest so she could introduce herself, but as soon as she walked through the entrance the one person she really wanted to meet was leaving. Hero waved the dark, spiky haired male off, but he did not seem to notice. A small sigh escaped her before she took a deep breath. It was a shame that she had not met the ice make wizard then, or at least attempted to speak with him because it would not be until another week that she would see him again.

Pink haired and loud-mouthed as usual, the cheerful Natsu commented on how it was much more peaceful without "the cold pervert" around. This statement caused a few of the guild members to chuckle at the irony, because Makarov had commented that it was peaceful without both Gray _and_ Natsu around. Hero took the opportunity to introduce herself to the other dragon slayer.

Natsu had his hands behind his head with his eyes closed and his chair leaned back on two legs. If Hero was not as excited as she was to meet him then she probably would have let him relax. A forced cough caught the male's attention, and he opened one eye to look at the new face. "Who are you?" He asked with his brow furrowed curiously. Hero brought up her boney hand for a handshake. "My name is Hero; it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you." She introduced.

A wide grin appeared on Natsu's face and he sat forward. The chair was on all fours once again, and Natsu removed himself from the seat. With a firm grip and a lot of force, Natsu crushed Hero's hand. It took all of her strength not to whimper out in pain as she forced a smile. "So you're the new dragon slayer? Gramps told me some stuff about you." The grasp on Hero's hand was released as Natsu spoke.

Black hues belonging to the male in front of her scanned up and down her body twice, as most people would do if they knew she was a female before speaking to her. "Ice is your element, right? I sure hope you're not like that stripper." Natsu scoffed. Hero laughed to herself. She was beginning to understand Mirajane's comment about the two acting like brothers. "I don't know him that well so I couldn't warn you if I was or not. I can tell you that I don't take my clothes off subconsciously, if that counts for anything." Her attempts at a joke were weak, but Natsu still laughed.

Something sparked in the male's eyes, like a light bulb had gone off in his head. Natsu wrapped an arm around Hero's shoulder and brought her head close to his so he could whisper to her. "We should play a little prank on Gray and Lucy." He plotted. Hero raised an eyebrow in confusion as she asked who Lucy was. "The blonde sitting over there." Natsu informed while he pointed in the direction of another table where the blonde that Hero had noticed before was speaking to a girl named Levy.

"Okay, what were you planning?" Hero asked, not against a little fun just as long as it was a harmless prank. The grin on Natsu's face grew, "Neither Gray or Lucy know that you're really a girl. Let's just see how long it takes them to find out before you have to tell them. They'll probably be so freaked out when they realize; it'll be hilarious!" This was no problem for Hero to accomplish, because talking about her gender never came up in conversation either because people would be afraid they would offend her or they were told by someone who knew her.

An older, very good looking wizard with slicked back, blue hair and a thin mustache with stubble on his chin grabbed Natsu's shoulder. Hero took a moment to remember his name, Macao. "Already flirting with the new girl, Natsu? I thought we had gotten rid of that kind of behavior when Loke went to the Celestial Spirit World." Macao teased as a big smirk grew on his face. Natsu looked at Hero for a moment and then turned to Macao while he removed his arm from Hero's shoulder. "We were just introducing ourselves." The pink haired wizard retorted, showing no sign of distress about Macao's teasing. Natsu took his seat again, and Macao brought a hand to block Natsu from seeing his lips moving. "If anyone here ever bothers you, darling, don't hesitate to come and get me. I know how these boys can be." This made Hero laugh, only to fall silent when Natsu stood up to retaliate against the older wizard.

"What is that supposed to mean? You have no room to talk, Mr. Pervy Gorilla Man!" Natsu shouted at Macao. The two got into a small fight with Hero in the middle of the two of them. The red haired female that Hero had admired before was watching as this situation unfolded, and it prompted her to pull Hero to the side and out of the line of fire.

This was the beautiful and famous Erza Scarlet that Hero was told repeatedly about. She was supposed to be the strongest woman in Fairy Tail and Hero did not doubt that. With how easily the armored female had stopped the two bickering boys from fighting before and the kind of impression she had on a few of the guild members, she would be worried if Erza was not the strongest female wizard in the guild.

Hero smiled at her savior and thanked her before she introduced herself with her hand held out in a handshake, this time opposite of the one she just had crushed by Natsu. Erza smiled warmly back at the new recruit, and took her hand in a firm handshake. Having expected to get her other hand crushed by the strongest female in the guild, Hero was thankful when Erza was a lot gentler with her.

"Someday soon you should show me how your magic works, maybe we could spar sometime?" Erza offered, happily welcoming any new person to the guild. Natsu overheard this offer after he and Macao wrapped up their argument. "Hey, no way! I get to challenge Hero first. I want to see what you can do." Natsu cut in while the grin from before returned to his face.

Erza protested that she was the one to ask first and therefore she should get the opportunity to witness Hero's magical ability first hand before the pink haired boy, but Natsu was very persistent. The two began to fight, and before it got too intense Hero decided that she would walk over to the table where Levy and Lucy were seated so she could introduce herself to the blonde and the blue cat on the table.

Levy's expression brightened at seeing Hero, and she threw up one of her hands in excitement. "Speaking of which, here she is now. You really need to read some of her stories; I couldn't put any of them down for even a second!" Levy praised, referring to Hero's fictional writing. The feminine pronoun used to address Hero was a sign that Natsu's plan to trick Lucy immediately failed. Maybe she could still get Gray.

While Hero was up in the mountains she liked to make up little worlds where she could create and control all of the people as she watch their stories unfold. It always seemed like remembering the story of her life was useless. Anything before waking up in the snow nowhere near civilization as a young twelve year old was a blur. Writing was her solace, and at least when she was writing she could pretend like she knew something about her past.

Lucy looked at Hero with an excited grin. "I'd be honored to read something of yours sometime, Hero. I'm a writer too; kind of." She hesitantly confessed, a gentle blush appearing on her cheeks. The blue cat on the table raised one of its paws. "No need to be ashamed, Lucy. I'm sure your writing isn't _that_ bad." The cat put a sarcastic tone behind its statement, so Hero was unsure of whether he was trying to encourage or insult her. The way Lucy reacted made it seem like an insult. Hero was more interested in the fact that the cat talked, so she stared at it in awe.

The small cat noticed Hero staring, so he floated up to her eye level and closed his eyes to show he was happy to meet her. "Hiya! My name is Happy. Natsu was excited about meeting you; before we got here he would not shut up about the new dragon slayer." Happy laughed. Hero was still in shock that the cat could talk so it took her a moment to bring herself back to reality. She apologized for dazing off before she introduced herself and told him that it was a pleasure to meet him.

Before Hero could say anything else, she felt her hand get grabbed by another. She directed her attention toward Levy, who had held her hand in hopes to get her attention. "I have to go. I hope there is a new story started when I get back; I'm so excited just thinking about it." Levy released Hero's hand and skipped over to her partners who were waiting for her by the entrance. The dark haired female waved them goodbye and then looked down at Lucy. "I don't think I've properly introduced myself," Hero said and apologized for forgetting to do so. She went on to say her name and request to read some of Lucy's writing sometime. The two writers talked to each other about many different topics, and after meeting Lucy there was only one person left in the guild who she did not introduce herself to.

Finally, the third and final week that went by was spent doing some more odd quests and growing bonds with all of the members of the guild. Everyone seemed to like her, and that kept a smile constantly on her face while she was in the guild hall. Gray had been gone for a week and it raised many suspicions. A vibrant blue haired female named Juvia would repeatedly ask Mirajane where the ice make wizard was. All Mirajane could say was that he was fine and that he was probably just relaxing up in the mountains. Erza and the others were planning on searching for Gray, but Makarov gave them an urgent mission and Erza could not disobey the Master.

Because of this, Mirajane went to Hero for help. She asked Hero to come with her to one of the storage rooms and help her take inventory. The dragon slayer agreed and followed her into the room. While the white haired female was writing things down on a piece of paper, she brought up the suspicions of the guild. "A lot of people are worried that he might be hurt, or even worse." Mirajane said with her back facing Hero. Her tone sounded upset, showing the true concern that she had been hiding for the last few days.

Hero had no response to Mirajane's concerns because she was unsure of how to comfort her. She knew little about the spiky haired male and could not say anything about how strong he was. The most she could say was a false reassurance that everything would be okay, but saying that would make her feel like a liar if there was truly something wrong. Mirajane took Hero's silence as an invitation to say more, "The last time he was here he took a high paying quest up in the mountain to help a wealthy woman find her missing husband. You used to live up in the mountains, right? I'm sure you're accustomed to the cold and can handle anything that's thrown at you up there. I was wondering…" Mirajane hesitated because she did not feel right sending a new wizard out on such a dangerous job without the assistance of another wizard. But if she were to send anyone else they would end up causing more harm than help, and no one knew the mountains quite like Hero did.

It was obvious that Mirajane was struggling to bring herself to ask the obvious question, so Hero answered. She touched Mirajane's shoulder reassuringly, stepping to stand beside her with a soft smile. "Of course I'll go to save a comrade. It should only take me two days to search, but give me an extra day just in case I can't bring him back immediately." Hero explained. Mirajane looked to the dragon slayer with such a grateful expression.

With a pat on the shoulder and loose goodbye, Hero left the guild and stopped by her apartment so she could pack a few things before she set off on her first life or death mission. She could only hope that the ice make wizard was not dead or buried in the snow somewhere.


	3. Chapter 3

The two days went by faster than Hero had expected. There was no luck in finding the missing wizard and the dragon slayer checked every pile of snow and crack in the mountain. It seemed hopeless and she had started to plan a way to say that she failed to find Gray's body, but she could not bring herself to leave the mountain when the time came. Not only was this a mission that someone had trusted her to do alone, but it was one where she could save someone's life. Her search continued on and luckily she had spotted something unfamiliar before a blizzard blew in.

Suspicions grew higher and higher the closer she approached the new, stone brick surrounded, estate located in between two of the major mountains. Hero got over the wall with ease by making a ladder out of ice. Trespassing was the least of her worries. The storms in the mountains were brutal that time of year, and if she did not take shelter somewhere she would surely be blown away or crushed by falling chunks of snow.

A stone brick shed was located on the opposite corner of the property, which was another two or three miles. Hero knew just how long it would take her to walk that far in the snow, but she could not waste any magical energy in fear of being encountered while she was weak. She picked up a handful of snow and packed it into a ball before she took a bite out of it. Occasionally she would repeat this while she walked, until she heard a voice shout out at her.

Hero jumped in surprise, turning to see three men running as fast as they could through the snow. A swear past her lips and she threw the half eaten snowball at the one in the front, then she increased the speed with a little bit of magic and completely knocked down the man. The other two kept going, even faster than before. The dragon slayer knelt down and placed both of her hands against the ground. The snow in front of her turned to ice along with the pathway down to the shed, which was still a half a mile away.

Swiftly, Hero jumped onto the ice to get some momentum and began to slide her way down the path. When the two men approached the ice path, they both slipped and spun out of control until they landed in the snow. The dark haired girl could not help but to chuckle at this. Her chuckling stopped when she realized how fast she was approaching the shed. With a bit of force and a lot of hope, Hero shifted the angle of her feet as if she were trying to stop a snowboard from moving. This technique worked in the sense that it got her to stop, however she did end up face planting in the snow beside the ice path.

Chewing on the snow while her face was in it, she gobbled down enough to compensate for the magic she used to make the long layer of ice. This gave the one man who had been struck down with a snowball time to catch up. Hero heard the sound of the ice sliding underneath the man's boots.

With an adrenaline rush kicking in and the cloud of the storm making its way over the property, Hero went into the shed and then put a thick layer of ice on both the outside and inside of the door. There were no windows in the small shed, and only a few candles lit up the area. Nothing of significance stood out to Hero in the safe haven, so while she had the chance to scavenge a little deeper she instead decided to sit and rest for a moment. Her best idea was to wait for the man to get through the ice and then freeze him, but that could take some time without any fire or fire magic.

Hours passed, or Hero thought that they did. It could have been shorter than that because she was very bored just sitting in the small compartment. She sighed deeply while trying to focus on the sound of the echo that it made. But this time rather than hearing the echo she heard groaning coming from somewhere. At first she believed it to be the man outside, but this sounded closer, almost too close.

There was a carpet underneath where Hero was sitting, so she moved the fabric and revealed a door that led underneath the shed. The room was covered in plates of stone, rather than bricks like every other structure she has seen in the area. She heard the man starting to break through her ice wall, so instead of waiting for him to get completely through it she decided to jump down into the door and then put a thick ice wall over the hole.

Scattered torches lit the small dungeon, but other than that there was no other decoration. It was dull to say the least, definitely not something that Hero would have imagined to be under a tool shed. Hero finally turned around, and her jaw dropped when she saw Gray sitting on the ground with his hands and feet chained together. She immediately ran across the room and knelt down beside her fellow wizard.

"Don't be dead." She muttered as she froze the shackles around his wrists and ankles. Gray mumbled something inaudible, his eyes slowly opening. Hero felt like she could breathe again when she saw the ice make wizard move, although it was not much. "You," His voice rasped out questioningly, obviously curious as to why a stranger from the guild was there to rescue him rather than one of his close friends.

Hero looked Gray dead in the eyes before she shattered the shackles. "I'll be right back, give me two seconds." The dragon slayer stood up, a plan plotted in her head that would give her and Gray an easy escape. She was going out on a limb in hopes that she would make it to a cave before the blizzard reached its peak. With a big jump Hero broke through the ice that she covered the hole with and then destroyed the rest of the ice that blocked the door that was protecting her for so long. The man stepped back in surprise while he covered his face to make sure none of the shards of ice got in his eyes.

While he was still covering his face, Hero took the opportunity to freeze him into a block of ice. She was very proud of this piece because of its perfect placement and height. It was just big enough for her to jump on and use as a springboard to get over the wall. As she admired the block, the two men who slipped earlier grabbed both of her arms and shoved her face into the snow. The dragon slayer munched and munched the deeper she was shoved down, and once she was full she chuckled at her captors. "It takes a true imbecile to be unaware that they are giving their enemy firepower."

The two men who were holding her arms were unsure of her sudden arrogance because in any other situation they were sure to have the upper hand. Hero encased her arms in freezing ice and the two men immediately pulled their hands away from the frostbite. In less than three seconds, the two men were encased in ice along with their other comrade. A sigh of relief left Hero as she shook the ice off of her arms with ease.

Back down in the small dungeon, Hero had lifted Gray onto her back and began to carry him out of the shed. Hero was strong after all of the large animals she had to carry to her shelter while she lived in the mountains.

Gray kept his head perched on Hero's shoulder, and throughout the journey to find a cave he asked a lot of questions. All of which Hero ignored because she was too busy looking for firewood and shelter. When she finally found a spot to rest, she decided to answer Gray's questions. The ice make wizard was leaning against the cave wall as Hero began to make the fire.

"I came because Mira believed sending your friends would cause more harm than good." Hero answered one of the questions she remembered, but then waited for Gray to ask another. He was hesitant to speak at first, analyzing Hero from a far. Finally he spoke.

"What's your name?"

Hero said her name, and this caused Gray to chuckle. It was ironic how well Hero's named suited the situation, since she was his savior after all.

"Why did you agree to come find me? I'm sure Mirajane could have sent someone else." Gray said, and this somewhat offended Hero.

"Would you've rather had somebody else come save you?" Hero retorted Gray's question with one of her own. Gray put his hands up defensively. "No, no. That's not what I meant, I just." Gray fumbled over his words, and Hero smiled slightly.

The ice make wizard sighed under his breath, and a short moment of quiet was all it took for the exhausted male to fall asleep. Hero curled up on the opposite side of the fire and fell asleep shortly after he did. They would make their way back to the guild the next morning, and with Gray carried on Hero's back she was sure that she would be recognized as a true comrade amongst the guild.


End file.
